Strong: Biggest concern heading into 1st year at USF is defense

Charlie Strong has formed his priority list when it comes to his first year at South Florida, and team defense sits higher than everything else.

Strong sat down for an interview with ESPN on Friday to discuss his outlook on the 2017 season, and discussed not only the expectations for his first season leading the Bulls, but also what he feels he needs to stress most of all with his team.

"It's more just managing those expectations, and you look at a team last season, and Willie did a great job there," Strong said. "He left me with some really great players, but to go win 11 games, the most in school history, and to have what we're returning ... you know, we have a lot.

"Offensively, we have a really good core. The issue is going to be on defense because when you look at defense, it's more about just confidence and playing with confidence and guys last season, we didn't play with a lot of confidence."

Strong's assessment comes with merit, as South Florida gave up an average of 482 yards per game last season, which was exceeded by only nine other programs. The Bulls were most victimized by the opposing passing game, surrendering an average of 276.8 yards per game through the air.